One By One
by Never-Say-Never96
Summary: Takes place during Dawn. During the Clan cats journey, something changes, and they began to mysteriously die one by one. T for violence. Written by the same author as the Life Story of Dappleleaf
1. AN

**This story takes place during Dawn, which is the journey of the Clans. It may also be for the beginning for Starlight, but I haven't read either for quite a long time, so I'm not sure. Alternate endings, along with a whole alternate story. **

**I promised I would write a story, so thank you, all you Dapplepaw fans! The second book will be out soon. (: **

**I got the idea randomly, I hope you like it. The story will be in two POVs, one from Forestpaw, a DesertClan apprentice, one from Squirrelpaw, of ThunderClan.**

**Enjoy.**

**DesertClan**

**Leader: **Stonestar: Big dark gray tom with blue eyes.

**Deputy: **Blizzardstorm: White tom with gray spots.

**Medicine Cat: **Robinfeather: Brown she-cat with a white underbelly.

**Warriors: **

Darkforest: Pitch black tom with green eyes.

Thunderrose: Light ginger she-cat with a white underbelly.

Tigertail: Dark brown tabby tom with a white underbelly.

Tawnyfeather: White she-cat with brown spots and beautiful blue eyes.

Blackflame: Dark brown tom with bright red eyes.

Bluerose: Light silvery/blue she-cat.

Fireblade: Dark ginger tom.

Dawnshadow: Light ginger she-cat.

Dewrose: Light silver she-cat with light blue eyes.

Sundapple: Ginger she-cat with darker ginger flecks.

Dovewing: Light silver she-cat.

**Apprentices:**

Forestpaw: Brown tabby tom with a white underbelly and white paws with green eyes.

Sandpaw: Light silver she-cat

Swamppaw: Brown tom with green eyes.

Pantherpaw: Black she-cat

Ashpaw: Black tom with green eyes.

**Queens:**

Winterrose: White she-cat. Pregnant with Blizzardstorms kits.

Silverrose: Light silver she-cat. Expecting Blackflame's kits.

Snowangel: White and silver she-cat. Mother of Tigertail's kits.

Goldenheart: Ginger and white she-cat. Mother of Blackflame kits.

**Kits:**

**Snowangel's litter:**

Riverkit: Silver she-cat.

Bramblekit: Brown tabby tom, like his father.

**Goldenheart's litter:**

Nightkit: Black she-cat with red eyes. Identical to her father.

Thistlekit: Brown tom with lighter stripes.

Hazelkit: ginger tom

Dustkit: Brown tom.

**So theres the allegiances! I know, HUGE Clan. But for what they're gonna do (*Coughcough* create destruction *CoughCough*) they need to be big.**

**Want a sneak peak? Heres the preview!**

Forestpaw looked around in panic, springing from ledge to ledge. No! They couldn't do this. They couldn't be monsters. Finally, as he reached the cave where DesertClan lived, he leaped in, only to be met by a Clan meeting. Stonestar stared at the cats below him coldly. Blizzardstorm faced the cats, shaking his head sadly.

"They may be a bigger group than us," Stonestar began.

Forestpaw's heart dropped. _It's too late!_

"but we can kill them off, one by one." An evil smile spread across his face as he flicked his tail, and the Clan began to yell. Forestpaw glanced at Sandpaw, and she shook her head sadly.

"Its happening again." Sandpaw whispered.

**Look exciting? MWUHAHAHA.**

**I'll have the actual chapter up by hopefully tomorrow.**


	2. Prologue

**Finally got to the prologue! Sorry, this will be slow progress... im just incredibly busy. Haven't be on the computer for a while, except for homework or my profiles. By the way, this story is rated T for violence. Oh, and one more thing, I made a mistake. In the queens it says Blackflame got both Silverrose and Goldenheart pregnant. Thats a mistake. Silverrose should be pregnant with Fireblade**

**But... here goes?**

**PROLOGUE**

Dust swirled around as a large brown tabby tom raced through the desert. Stopping, he kicked up sand all around him, searching for a hiding spot frantically. Rocks met him on both sides, and there was nowhere to go but forward. He though he heard pawsteps behind him, so he ran as fast as he could, sides heaving with effort.

As the tom reached an opening, where rolling sand met him on all sides, he stopped to pant, trying to make his mind work past the panic. He had to get out of here. He was the only survivor of his group, he _had_ to. Suddenly, a dark gray tom turned up on one side, with a black tom on the other. A growled from behind him, made him try to sneak a glance behind his shoulder. A light ginger she-cat stalked slowly toward him, eyes narrowed with amusement and entertainment.

The tom planned to plead with them, but suddenly everything was put in action. All three cats burst into a run, and the tabby pelted forward. "Help!" he yowled, as if any other cat could hear. "Help me! Help!" He was yowling loudly, his face pointing at the sun. Suddenly the ground from under him gave way. He was falling.

The cats above snickered. "Idiot." The she-cat muttered, looking carefully over the steep cliff. A dust of cloud was rising where the tom had landed.

"Works every time." The gray tom meowed, gazing over as well.

"How come every victims we have fall off a cliff without realizing it?" The black tom rolled his eyes as the gray tom flicked his tail for them to follow him back to the caves.

"Well, Darkforest, we can only hope for smart oppenents." The large gray tom meowed to the black tom.

"Oh, Stonestar," The light ginger she-cat meowed as they walked to her leader. "How right you are."

Stonestar flicked his tail to the she-cat. "Dawnshadow, would you get together a patrol and scout the territory, to make sure he's the last." Stonestar meowed, and the she-cat nodded and dashed forward toward their homes.

**IN THE CLANS**

Firestar awoke in a strange forest, breathing heavily. _I must be dreaming._ he thought, gazing around. "Hello?" Firestar called cautiously.

"Firestar," a voice behind him spoke, and he spun around, ears pricked anxiously.

"Whitestorm!" The young leader purred, bounding closer, then stopping and taking a few steps back as he realized Whitestorms eyes were serious, scared. Fireststar got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"You cannot continue your journey." Whitestorm meowed somberly, eyes averted from Firestars, as if he couldn't met the leader emerald gaze, which flew wide with shock.

"We have to continue!" Firestar protested. "Where else can we go?"

"If you continue, innocent cats will die-"

"We all knew innocent cats would die when we started this journey." Firestar meowed, eyes narrowing.

"But they will die a bloody, slow death." Whitestorm meowed, gulping in sadness.

Firestar shook his head. "What do you expect me to do? Tell cats with the rest of their lives ahead of them that 'everything we hope and work toward is now over. We must split up and become loners now. Say goodbye'? I think not." Firestar said stubbornly, surprised at his words. He was speaking like this his ancestor, a once respected Clanmate. It wasn't like him, but this was the Clans being talked about, the one thing to Firestar as important as StarClan.

"Firestar-" Whitestorm begin, but Firestar caught him off, awaking to sunlight.

Beside him, Sandstorm and Squirrelpaw, along with Leafpaw, slept peacefully. The rest of the Clan cats were bundled with their friends and families.

_Am I killing you?_


	3. Newcomer

**Chapter 1 starts now! Whoo! XD. Okay, so my rule is if I get 2 reviews a chapter, I will update as soon as possible. Btw, for christmas I might be getting a lap top, so I can update a lot more. :). Alright, well, I don't really have anything to say, except that this chapter is in Forestpaws view. Well, here goes!**

**_CHAPTER 1_**

_The moon shone clearly in the sky._

Pawsteps sounded almost noiselessly on the ground, dust spurting up around them. It was a group of four cats. A large white tom ran in the lead, a smaller brown tabby on his heels. On one side of the tabby was a black tom, while taking up the rear was a brown tom, whose eyes shone red in already eerie light.

"Fan out!" Yowled the white tom, and the cats split up into a sideways line, paws pounding the sand. The tabby wanted to turn around and run right back to camp, and he knew his mentor, the white tom, was thinking the same thing.

Forestpaw forced his paws to move faster, as their target came into sight. He was a small kit, a brown tom. His mother, a white she-cat, lifted him up by the scruff. The patrol gained on them, tails streaming out behind them.

"Forestpaw, you get the kit, Ashpaw, Blackflame, you get the mother." Blizzardstorm, the white tom ordered as the cats begin to catch up. Forestpaw felt anguish inside him, and he wanted to yowl in sadness. He had to kill the kit?

Ashpaw dove forward, knocking the mothers paws out from under her. She fell onto her side, rolling in the dust, the kit flying from her jaws and onto the ground a few feet away. As the three other cats leapt at her, Forestpaw raced at the kit, picking it up by the scruff and throwing it behind a rock.

"Plead to the white tom to join the Clan." Forestpaw whispered to the small kit. "We take kits that want to join."

The kit looked up confused at him, but Forestpaw looked back down with a hard gaze, and the kit soon nodded. "Good." he meowed, wincing as the mother piercing scream hit the air. The kit began to wail, but Forestpaw slapped his tail to the brown toms mouth. "Say nothing." Forestpaw warned, pricking his ears when the noise on the other side of the rock stopped.

He herded the kit around the rock, swallowing as the kit began to tremble immensly at the sight of his dead, bloody mother.

"You didn't kill it?" Blackflame growled, eyes narrowing at Forestpaw.

"Forestpaw is too weak to kill." Ashpaw snarled, but Forestpaw glared at him threatening, unsheathing his claws in case the young apprentice said any more.

"Why didn't you kill him?" Blizzardstorm asked, genuinly curious.

"He wants to join." Forestpaw meowed, meeting his mentors gaze.

"And you think Stonestar would let him?" Blackflame growled, rolling his eyes. "Yeah," he scoffed. "Right."

"He takes whatever kits we find that survived, doesn't he?" Forestpaw challenged the warrior, lashing his tail, claws digging in the earth. Forestpaw hated this arrogant cat.

Blizzardstorm sighed, gazing at the kit. "Worth a try." he meowed, then signaled with his tail for the patrol to follow. "Lets go back."

As the patrol and the kit padded through the endless sand, Forestpaw couldn't help but wish for more shade or rain. The desert only rained a few days a season, and Forestpaw was sick of it. He wanted to go somewhere where it rained more, where the climate wasn't constantly hot, where shade was easily found.

The kit that padded infront of Forestpaw padded along, tail dragging in the dust and head down. Forestpaw could feel sympathy for the kit. His mother had died before he even got to know her name. He and his sister, Sandpaw, never knew their father either.

Finally, they arrived at the cliff, veering off to a sheer path that ran along the edge of the cliff. The kit pressed to the way, eyes wide, obviously trying not to look down. When the path stopped, the kits eyes widened. Forestpaw grabbed him by the scruff, and jumped after Blackflame and Ashpaw. When Blizzardstorm jumped next to them, they continued, jumping ledge to ledge, which jutted out of the cliff. Finally, they reached the largest, a massive gaping hole in front of them. Forestpaw set the kit down, and herded him inside where cats sat, eating, grooming, or retreating to the dens. There were four tunnels, each leading into other caves, which were the dens.

A light silver she-cat fell in step beside Forestpaw. "Who is that?" Sandpaw murmured, gazing at the kit.

"The last survivor. His mother was just killed, and now we're bringing him back." Forestpaw murmured.

"I'll fetch Stonestar." Blizzardstorm meowed, bounding into the largest, center tunnel, disappearing in the black, then returning a few moments later with a huge dark gray tom, whose blue eyes swept over the patrol, resting on the kit. The rest of the patrol stepped backward, leaving the kit standing alone. The rest of the cats in the cave, also all avoided meeting the leaders gaze, all cats showing fear in their eyes.

Stonestar obviously gained respect by fear, and Forestpaw wished it would end, but had no idea how that could happen.

"What are you doing here?" Stonestar snarled, blue eyes narrowed.

"I-I-I-"

"Stop stuttering." Stonestar snarled, looking read to swipe the kit.

"He wishes to join." Blizzardstorm murmured to Stonestar, who huffed. "He's the last survivor. We could use him easily to our advantage."

"Last survivor? Must be tough." Stonestar meowed, more to himself than to the Clan. "You can stay here, and when you become an apprentice you better prove yourself." he growled, turning and stalking back to his den.

Forestpaw lashed his tail as he stared after the leader, claws digging into the dust.

"Welcome to DesertClan." Blizzardstorm murmured to the kit.

**Well, thats it! Yay! Pretty normal sized chatpter. Well, anyway, the violence won't start until possibly 3 or 4. Review! :)**


	4. Mysteries

**I'm very unhappy about this last chapter. No reviews? Thats a bad sign... usually without any reviews for two whole chapters I'd stop a story dead in its tracks, but since this a brand new story, I won't. Unless there are no reviews for this chapter, then this story will be deleted and I won't be continuing it at all. **

**But, I'm gonna let it go... for now.**

**Chapter 2? **

**_CHAPTER 2_**

Squirrelpaw leaped forward, trapping the creature in between her claws. As she was leaning to deliver a killing bite, a wail made her jump, and the mouse skittered away underneath a rock.

"Mouse dung!" Squirrelpaw spat, and lashed her tail. Who had screamed while the Clans were trying to hunt? She stalked back to where the rest of the cats were resting, some eating meager kills, some with lucky finds, and some snoozing in the scorching sun.

The group had made it to the middle of a small desert, and the sun was up almost 16 hours a day, making the travelers overheat if they journeyed during the day. Now, the four Clans traveled only at night, trying to find any shade to sleep in during the day, away from the sun. The kits could hardly take the heat if they were to walk.

Squirrelpaw looked to Whitepaw, who was on her paws, ears alert, standing next to Spiderpaw. "What was that?" Squirrelpaw meowed, trotting closer to the white she-cat.

"I don't know, but it sounded like Tawnypelt." Whitepaw breathed back as Crowpaw, Brambleclaw, and Firestar raced toward the sound. Squirrelpaw swallowed and raced after them.

_Please don't let her be hurt!_ The ginger she-cat was relieved when they found Tawnypelt, though eyes wide and sides heaving with pants, was alright. "What happened?" Brambleclaw gasped, resting his tail on his sisters shoulder.

"I-I-" Tawnypelt could hardly speak, and finally after a long moment of silence, the she-cat, green eyes still wide, lead the group away, trudging through the sand. Squirrelpaw noticed the tortoiseshell was shaking.

"Look." Tawnypelt angled her ears toward where a hill sloped toward them, and a hole was at the bottom, tunneling through.

_This place has millions of secret places._ Squirrelpaw thought as she remembered seeing a cave leading from a sand dune to the ledge of a cliff, burrowing underground and coming out to blue skies. A few tail lengths away was a dangerous ledge, leading to a cliff face where hundreds of feet down was a sure death.

Firestar shook his head to Crowpaw and Squirrelpaw, and he and Brambleclaw padded forward into the hole. Tawnypelt seemed to traumetized to follow. Squirrelpaw lashed her tail in frustration as she watched the two cats walk into the cave. She dug her claws into the sand in impatience, and it seemed like an eternity before Firestar and Brambleclaw emerged with troubled faces.

Brambleclaw's striped tail lashed angrily. "Who would do that?" Brambleclaw snarled, looking as if he was about to claw the closest cat, but istead the tabby tom dug his claws into the earth below him, as if trying to control his rage.

"What is it?" Squirrelpaw asked, looking to her father, who looked as if a tradegy had just unfolded. What if it had? Was some one dead in that cave? Would they have to stop the journey?

Firestar didn't answer, just trudged past the two apprentices, murmuring something. Squirrelpaw caught something like, "He was right..."

Tawnypelt and Brambleclaw followed side by side, heads bent down in conversation. No cat said anything to the two apprentices.

"Lets go check it out." Squirrelpaw meowed, bounding toward the cave, Crowpaw following without hesitation. Usually the two argued about anything possible, but they both silently agreed this time. They needed to know what was in that cave.

Squirrelpaw slowed when they reached the entrance, excitement running through her veins. She ducked her head into the hole, Crowpaw following. They emerged into a tunnel, leading backward. When the tunnel opened up, there was a puddle, and then piles of... fur? This was the biggest fresh-kill pile she had ever seen.

Squirrelpaw then noticed, as they approached closer, that this was not prey. "I think I'm gonna be sick..."

"Oh, great StarClan!" Crowpaw exclaimed.

They were cat bodies, piled up like prey around the tunnel, just thrown mercilessly into the cave to be forgotten. The closest cat body to them was a white she-cat, who was torn to pieces. Squirrelpaw nearly wailed as she turned and raced out of the cave, stomach heaving. This was un-cat-like!

When Crowpaw and Squirrelpaw arrived back, Squirrelpaw got a strict glare from her mentor, Dustpelt. Firestar looked at all the cats. Squirrelpaw looked away from Dustpelt and padded to her sister, Leafpaw. "What happened?"

"Firestar just announced we have to extra careful. They found... bodies, nearby!"

"Yeah, in that cave over there." Squirrelpaw flicked her tail the way she and Crowpaw had just came from, the sight of the dead bodies replaying over and over in her head. _What killed those cats?_

"You saw them?!" Leafpaw exclaimed, glaring at her sister.

Squirrelpaw lashed her tail. "Yes. So what?" Squirrelpaw trotted away from her 'always-do-good' sister to join Sorreltail, a young warrior who was a good friend of Squirrelpaw and her sister.

"Can you believe that something would kill those cats and disrespect them by throwing their body away like carcasses of mice?" Sorreltail hissed, though sadness sparkled in her eyes.

"No... but that something needs to be killed, before it kills us..." Squirrelpaw whispered, feeling sick again.

This journey was about to get very hard.

**Well, thats it for Chapter 2! Review, Review, REVIEW! Thanks every one for reading this.**


End file.
